The countries in question bought the weapons as part of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, which enables the purchase of American weapons with the approval of the government in Washington. However, many weapons have not yet arrived and their delivery will be delayed, as American officials have already told European countries in recent days, Reuters wrote.
European officials complain that the delay in the delivery of weapons puts them in a difficult situation. According to agency sources, the delay concerns “various types of ammunition, including ammunition that can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes.”
The sources did not specify the countries affected by the delivery delay, but said that some of them have borders with Russia.
The weapons will not arrive even though President Donald Trump is pressuring Europe to buy more weapons from the US, including those from the FMS program, which, according to the agency, is part of an effort to shift responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense from the US to European partners.
The reason for the delivery delay is the American-Israeli war against Iran, which these countries unleashed on Saturday, February 28. During the conflict, Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at the countries of the Persian Gulf, most of which were shot down, including the Patriot air defense systems.
At the same time, Ukraine is dependent on these systems and the ammunition for them, which has an extreme shortage of them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi previously stated that more rockets were fired at patriots during the first days of this war than during the entire Russian war in Ukraine.
